I’ve been working at applying to colleges to find a suitable place to obtain my Masters degree. One of the draws of working at my current position is the fact that my company will help fund such an endeavor, and so – I thought I’d give myself a $10,000 raise and go find a degree program I want.
So originally I was going to get a dual master: An MBA and a Masters of Science in Emergency Management. And I was going to get it from a school that had both a traditional and online program….so off I went down that road. But, before I started classes, my company changed the accreditation policy for what schools they accepted, and my school didn’t fall into that….plus I was rethinking another 3.5 years of school – so I went for another school here in Denver. Very prestigious, I began the application process….Greg graduated from there and the total cost of his degree was around $28,000. So imagine my surprise when I calculated my tuition at $75,500!!!!! Even with my company’s help – I would have to fund this endeavor with my whole salary for the next 2 years. Thus, I promptly dropped THAT program.
And now, I’m currently applying to yet another school – this time in Colorado Springs. The exact same accreditation – and at $25,000 for two years, it seems a much better bargain. But, again, I have to send transcripts, essays, letters of recommendation, application fees, applications, and on and on….
So I told Greg (jokingly) that I thought all this was a sign from God that I wasn’t supposed to go get my Masters and that perhaps I should forget about the whole idea and continue on with my happy little life. He disagreed and said no, God was clearly testing me, and my perseverance. We laughed…and then I had to think out loud on this whole idea. How are you supposed to know what is a test, and what is a stop sign? How many people – when left to their interpretation, interpret it incorrectly and drop out or push on needlessly?
Better yet, is there a wrong choice?
One can only speculate at this point – but it doesn’t really apply to me anyways. I’ll be hard-hearted, or full of perseverance (whichever you prefer) and busy getting my application in.
So originally I was going to get a dual master: An MBA and a Masters of Science in Emergency Management. And I was going to get it from a school that had both a traditional and online program….so off I went down that road. But, before I started classes, my company changed the accreditation policy for what schools they accepted, and my school didn’t fall into that….plus I was rethinking another 3.5 years of school – so I went for another school here in Denver. Very prestigious, I began the application process….Greg graduated from there and the total cost of his degree was around $28,000. So imagine my surprise when I calculated my tuition at $75,500!!!!! Even with my company’s help – I would have to fund this endeavor with my whole salary for the next 2 years. Thus, I promptly dropped THAT program.
And now, I’m currently applying to yet another school – this time in Colorado Springs. The exact same accreditation – and at $25,000 for two years, it seems a much better bargain. But, again, I have to send transcripts, essays, letters of recommendation, application fees, applications, and on and on….
So I told Greg (jokingly) that I thought all this was a sign from God that I wasn’t supposed to go get my Masters and that perhaps I should forget about the whole idea and continue on with my happy little life. He disagreed and said no, God was clearly testing me, and my perseverance. We laughed…and then I had to think out loud on this whole idea. How are you supposed to know what is a test, and what is a stop sign? How many people – when left to their interpretation, interpret it incorrectly and drop out or push on needlessly?
Better yet, is there a wrong choice?
One can only speculate at this point – but it doesn’t really apply to me anyways. I’ll be hard-hearted, or full of perseverance (whichever you prefer) and busy getting my application in.
I have come to believe that there are very few wrong decisions. I move it to the realm of choices and consequences. We are free to do a lot of things, but we have to decide whether we are willing to live with the consequences.
ReplyDeleteWhich is what you so eloquently wrote about.